Between States

Based upon the success of an exhibition curated by UrbanLab named 50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards, The Chicago Architecture Foundation invited UrbanLab to curate a second exhibition in its Michigan Avenue gallery. Again, UrbanLab invited 50 of the city’s top architecture and design firms to develop 50 transformative proposals to transform underappreciated and underperforming spaces in Chicago into rejuvenated civic anchors. UrbanLab challenged the 50 design teams to identify a physical asset in one of Chicago’s 50 wards that could benefit from a redesign and imagine a way to transition it “between states.” The meaning is twofold. First, how can the physical state of these sites be transformed? Second, how can successful community-based projects from other U.S. states serve as inspiring case studies for Chicagoans?